Monthly Archives: September 2011

In the past, my cast parts were cast by an outside contractor. We would carve the wax positives and send them out. Now we are moving into the actual casting process here at the shop. In these pics I am doing “sand casting”, where a Styrofoam positive is buried in sand and the molten metal is poured into it. I am using a pottery kiln to heat the aluminum to 1400 degrees. Then it is carefully removed from the kiln and poured. It is a dangerous process lifting the red hot crucible out of the kiln and pouring it. I have to wear my leather riding outfit to protect me from the heat! check the pics…

I’m putting a new rocker box gask in a S&S shovel motor and I never had one apart before? I never needed too, anyhoo I looked inside the rocker box and check this out, Nice roller rockers. The more I deal with a S&S motor the more I like. This motor is a quality built with quality parts that I have never seen in any other motor. There are a lot of less expensive pan shovel,pan heads and cone shovels out in e-bay land but like the old saying goes You Get What You Pay For! Try not to get all caught up in ads that say S&S cases, big fucking deal. What about everything else? Like high quality bearings, Good valves,springs,keepers, crank,rods,rockers,oil pump bla bla bla, you get the picture. The last thing I need is one of my builds on the side of the road for everyone to see. It looks bad!

Its tough out there right now for us bike builders.

Every swinging dick wants a better deal. Every day some asshole tells me ” ya but I can get one cheaper “

Then I have to explain to them the difference but its like talking to a wall.

I warranty my bikes for as long as the original owner owns it. There is a reason for that.

So If your getting a bike on Kijiji or e-bay craig’s list and you think your getting a killer deal????

Well I do bike repairs also… so add up your good deal bike plus the repairs not to mention how shitty it really looks now that you compare it to a quality bike and keep telling your self what a great deal you got.

My friend Kully is apprenticing with me for the next month. He is an ex flat track racer from South Dakota, who is switching from racing to building. I have a feeling you will be seeing a lot more of him in the future. Here is his first bike, second one is in the works at my shop now….

These are new risers carved from billet blanks I had manufactured. They are available in aluminum or bronze, and I can carve them into any shape and/or engrave them with text. Price will vary depending on complexity of the carving process.

This weekend was a busy one for me. First I headed down to the Jersey shore to spend a few days with my friend Mitch from Magoo’s Cycles in Bel Mar. There was a pro surfing contest down there and we set up out bikes and trailers right on the beach. On Sat morning I headed into Brooklyn to meet up with my friend Keino and his crew the “White Knights”, and set up my bikes for his show. If you have not been to the Brooklyn Invitational, it’s a great event. Honestly it is the best event on the east coast right now for real choppers. It is set up like an art gallery with the chosen bikes indoors. Outside on the street there are tons of other bikes lined up down the curb, 95% of them being hand made chops. A big thank you goes out to Keino, Paul, and the rest of the knights for putting on such a great event. I displayed the new knuckle “Knucklegame”, “Icarus” and “Daddy go Hard”.